Mood:
a-okTopic: "Frodo's Retirement"(8)
Frodo is approaching the issue of retirement with a sense of resolve. "Frodo will accomplish something each and every day. It may not be much, but he will be able to look back and say I did 'X,' or I did 'X+1'. It may be," he said "something entirely different or totally absent from my 'To Do' list, but something will get done." Frodo's sense of obligation herein is matched only by that of Barack Obama (President of the USA).
Frodo planned to wash his motorcar this date. It threatened rain however, so that item was shelved. The rain, it seems, has now, also, been re-scheduled.
Frodo has measured and drawn a plan of action to refurbish the gazebo which stands in the gardens of the Shire. The gazebo has come under periodic assault from the squirrels who serve as resident Taliban insurgents. Being Sunday however, Frodo felt that the crowds at the Home Depot of the Shire would increase his level of anxiety, so he re-scheduled his task until Monday's planned supply run.
Frodo needs to visit Lake Lovey and repair a few leaks on his pontoon boat. There is a C-4 explosive lookalike substance which meets the need, but Frodo always fears that a misplaced match may destroy all of East Tennessee. Besides, it is a healthy drive, and Sam needs to pack provisions with a 'prep time' that exceeds Frodo's whimsical plans.
A neighbor in the Shire has given Frodo a beaucoup number of strawberry plants from her garden. Frodo has created a potential gold mine of strawberries, and with the able assistance of Mick, the Wonder Dog, who has been assigned the task of pest aversion (mainly squirrels again), routinely patrols the area to ensure the safe maturation of the new breed (dubbed 'Frodo's Beauties'). This assignment is on-going.
As Frodo swept the remnants of yesterday's trim job from the driveway, he noticed something which had not been there yesterday. Lying on its face was a fully-grown Cooper's Hawk. Frodo turned the creature face-up and mistakenly took abdominal movements as respiration. Soon Frodo realized that this beautiful creature had reached a premature end. There was no blood, no sign of injury, and the body was flexible and warm. The end had been recent.
All of Frodo's neighbors were gone, so there was none save Sam to share in the ceremony that Frodo conducted. Mick, the Wonder Dog, paid proper homage and sniffed the remains from head-to-tail, and, as they always do, then he walked away from the smell of death. Frodo had a million questions, and he thought about taking the remains to the Chattahoochee Nature Center for a potential autopsy. "Too busy they are," he thought. "Better it is to return him into the cycle of life-and-death beneath the skies that he had owned. and beneath the ground where he hunted", said the choking Hobbit.
Frodo welcomed him home, amid the reality that what Frodo accomplished this day was important. He maintained Dominion, as was required. Some jobs, he thought, are worth doing, and worth doing right.
